Technology » The Significance of Nitric Oxide
Before 1987, the role of nitric oxide (NO) in human health was thought to be primarily as an irritant in air pollution. This view changed dramatically that year with the discovery of the production of NO in the body and the identification of the molecule's key role in biological signaling. In the years since its discovery, over 29,000 scientific papers on NO have been published, which attests to the intensity of research interest devoted to this molecule. In recognition of the medical significance of the molecule, in 1998 the Nobel Prize in Physiology was awarded to the scientists who discovered the role of NO as a biological messenger.
NO is a small gaseous molecule with chemical properties that make it uniquely suitable as both an intra- and intercellular messenger. Because it possesses an unpaired electron, NO reacts with other molecules with unpaired electrons, especially superoxide, which can combine with NO to form peroxynitrite, a highly reactive and toxic radical. As a neutral gaseous molecule, NO can diffuse over several cell lengths from its source to exert control over certain enzymes and regulate key cellular functions. The combined properties of its ability to regulate enzymes across long distances as well as its high reactivity with other molecules give NO its unique dual role as both a powerful signaling molecule and lethal effector molecule.
Because of these powerful functions, the production of this pivotal mediator is tightly regulated and there is ample literature to show that a deficiency or an excess of NO contributes to numerous human diseases and disorders. Diseases and conditions such as acute hypotension, intradialytic hypotension, migraine, hemorrhagic shock, tissue rejection, rheumatoid arthritis, and diabetes are associated with the overproduction of NO.
Nitric Oxide (NO) is an important signaling molecule that acts in many tissues to regulate a diverse range of physiological processes. Excess Nitric Oxide (NO) is a critical factor in the development of hypotension and inflammatory processes, both in acute and in chronic diseases.
